Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant’s co-owners Mark Edelson, Kevin Finn and Kevin Davies are spicing things up this holiday season—and no, not just in their award-winning beers. On Black Friday, November 29, the trio—who were once just a pack of drinking buddies and now collectively own 10 Iron Hill locations—announced that the Tripel, a three-time Great American Beer Festival medal-winner, will now be identified as Bedotter.
“We decided we wanted to get away from naming our beers as their traditional styles,” revealed Mark Edelson, co-founder and Director of Brewing Operations at Iron Hill. “So, we picked one of our popular beers, the Tripel, and rebranded it.”
Establishing a beer’s new identity can be a lofty task, continued Edelson, who confessed that “naming is always difficult—what’s the story behind the name? Is it catchy? Name has a lot of impact on a beer.”
Inspired by the beer’s Belgian origins, Iron Hill’s re-naming squad combed through Flemish terminology to source a fresh moniker that would be unique to Iron Hill and the beer industry. “Flemish is its own language, like Dutch, but it is spoken in most of the brewing regions of Belgium—which felt appropriate for this beer,” said Edelson.
“We explored terms that had cooler meanings and those that rolled off the tongue. In the end, we settled on ‘bedotter,’ which is a trickster or prankster—which seemed like a good name for a tripel-style beer.”
Arriving at 9% ABV, it’s easy to identify the Bedotter as a rascal of a beer. Remarkably smooth and well-balanced, this Iron Hill tripel is brewed traditionally, possessing a distinct malt to it as well as a fruity backbone and crisp, dry finish.
“Bedotter may not be unique in terms of what you usually find in a tripel, but it is a really well made, traditional-style Belgian tripel,” said Mark. “Our customers love the style; they just love it!”
“We [at Iron Hill] love the tripel, as well as other Belgian beers, because they are very approachable, for even non-beer drinkers,” he concluded. “They are very focused on the yeast character, which is very fruity, yet still higher in alcohol.”
Keep your thirsty eyes peeled for the re-release of the signature tripel, now cheekily coined Bedotter. Available in bottled reserve, the striking bottle is cloaked with a custom label design, courtesy of Downingtown-based pop artist Jeff Schaller.
More information on where to source your share of Bedotter here.
Content provided by Dish Works author Amy Strauss.
